Symbiosis
by Vioxxin
Summary: Oneshot!AU where Kaneki, the ruthless Joker of the 20th ward, adopts Hide, a nosy and sunny human child. (Brotherly fic)


"Ugh, I hate alcoholics."

Kaneki tosses the half-eaten liver in his hand away, disgusted. It lands into a garbage pile of other rejected body parts and Kaneki wrinkles his nose, realizing he'd have to clean that up soon if he didn't want his neighbors to start complaining to the landlord again.

He gets rid of the vivisected body on the makeshift operating table, making sure to take out and preserve any other edible organs. Examining the decapitated head in his gloved hands, Kaneki can't resist popping one of the eyeballs into his mouth. The delightful flavor bursts on his tongue, liquid seeping through the corner of his lips. He licks it up, shamelessly moaning in satisfaction. The sound is followed by crazed laughter when Kaneki is hit by the memory of these eyes staring up at him in complete adoration only moments before.

"You died for a good cause, beautiful," Kaneki whispers to the woman's severed head, "You died the way anyone would have wanted. In the throes of pleasure, helping the poor, mistreated, scum of society keep on living," He throws his head back and laughs, "Then again, I suppose _ghouls_ weren't a part of your philanthropy plan, were we?!"

After skillfully hacking it up, he throws the head into the bag with the rest of the body, roughly tying it up and slinging it over his shoulders. Various empty cans of coffee, food wrappers, and other junk shared the space inside with the corpse, hopefully concealing it.

Kaneki pulls up his hood and opens the window, preparing for another round of clean-up.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Somehow, rotting food managed to smell worse than it already did to Kaneki.

He stuffs the bag with the corpse beneath a mountain of garbage, careful not to disturb the pile and have it topple down on him. After making sure it blended with the rest, he sneaks away, done for the night.

Kaneki leaps through the city, blends with the shadows as he makes his way home. Darting through one of the alleys close to his apartment, he's met by the sight of another ghoul delivering the final blow to a human male.

Looking closer… it looked like the male was a _dove_.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kaneki asks lowly. The ghoul looks up at him, mouth bloody and full from biting the dove's neck, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're going to get us in?"

The ghoul rolls his eyes and swallows the blood, letting the investigator's corpse drop to the ground, "What's the matter? This ward's already got doves swarming it because of the Joker. Eating one isn't going to make a differen-"

He finds himself unable to finish his sentence, his face smashed against the concrete street with Kaneki's heel digging into his cheek.

"I hate idiots," Kaneki hisses, "They make it so much harder for me to eat. I don't think you understand that five reckless students going missing doesn't garner the same interest as a dove plucked of its feathers."

The ghoul sputters in pain as Kaneki digs his heel harder against his cheek, hearing his jaw crack and teeth come loose, _"It hurts! It_ _ **hurts**_ _!"_

"You're not going to need to eat where I'm sending you anyway, stop whining," Kaneki intones boredly, "Ugh, and I just finished taking out the trash too. Now I have to deal with more? This just isn't my day, don't you agree?"

He leans down to whisper to the ghoul, "On the other hand, it's always a _fun_ time when I get to end my nights _inside_ someone."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kaneki can never figure out why the CCG insists on wearing white. Blood is ridiculously hard to wash out.

Thankfully, black hides it well.

He kicks the ghoul's body to the side, rolling it next to the dead investigator. He had impaled him with the investigator's own quinque to create the illusion that they had killed each other. Hopefully, that would prevent the CCG from sending in more doves if they thought the threat was already taken care of.

Of course, he's fairly sure he could handle more of them if he wanted. He just doesn't want to.

Yawning, he makes his way to leave, only to stop when he hears a strange noise behind him.

Kaneki pivots on his heel, "Who's there?" he demands.

He hears a faint gasp, a hitch in someone's breath that's quickly muffled. Tracing it to an upturned shipment box hidden on the other turn of the alley, Kaneki kicks the box over and grabs the creature's head, prepared to snap its neck.

"Stop!"

 _A child?_ Kaneki doesn't let his grip loosen, bright blond hair slipping through his fingers as he tugs it down and forces the kid to look up at him.

"Please," the boy sniffles, "Don't hurt me."

Kaneki stares, his own breath caught in his throat when the boy looks at him, big, watery eyes imploring him to have mercy.

"What are you doing here, boy?" he growls, tamping down any guilt he might have after hearing the kid whimper in fear, "Don't you know it's dangerous to be playing in the dark?"

"I wasn't playing!" the kid argues, "I-I was taken here. Mara-san told me he was going to take me home but then a strange man showed up so he stuffed me in the box and, and-!" He starts sobbing now, "I want to go home!"

"Mara?" Kaneki wonders to himself, remembering reading that name on the investigator's ID after looting him, "Was he your father?"

The kid shakes his head, blubbering, "N-no."

"Then where are your parents?" Kaneki's getting irritated again. _Damn it kid, I want to go home too._ Maybe he should just snap his neck like he'd planned and finish this madness. He's sure he could fake it so it looks like he was killed by the other ghoul too.

As if he knows what's going through his head, the kid trembles and shakes his head, "I-I don't know! They left me at the- at the orphanage and said they'd come back but…"

Kaneki feels disgusted with himself when he actually feels _pity_.

"They never came back, huh?" He says, watching as the boy shudders at his words and starts crying harder. Kaneki adjusts his hold and hauls him up by the back of his shirt, easily lifting him up to face-level. The kid yelps and hides his face when he sees Kaneki study him intently.

 _Interesting. Now why would an investigator be going after a child?_ Kaneki tilts his head to the side, allowing a smirk to grace his face when he makes a realization.

Carefully, he sets the boy back down and kneels down to his level, "Hey, look at me," he says softly.

The boy hesitantly peeks through his fingers and finds Kaneki offering him a warm and gentle smile.

"I'm sorry about that. What's your name?" he asks.

"...Hide," the boy mumbles cautiously, wary of the sudden change in Kaneki's personality. Kaneki hums thoughtfully and repeats his name, liking the way it rolls around his tongue.

Growing a bit bolder, Hide asks, "Where's Mara-san?"

Kaneki shakes his head, "I'm sorry Hide. I don't know where he is. You were alone when I found you."

"He… left?" Hide says to himself, voice small and choked in betrayal. Kaneki nods, ignoring the pang in his chest when he sees Hide sniffle, trying to hold back a fresh bout of tears.

He holds out his hand, cupping the back of Hide's head and pressing it against his chest, "Hey it's okay," he coos, ramping up the charm, "Tell you what. It's getting late, and I was on my way home. There's no way I could let you stay here alone so, if you don't mind,"

Kaneki holds him back at arms' length, smiling,

"Would you like to come home with me, Hide-kun?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

" _What do you mean he's been_ _ **adopted**_ _?!"_

"Mr. Nagachika, this is an orphanage, not a daycare," The lady by the desk matches Daiki's unwavering glare with her own, "You and your wife left Hideyoshi here months ago, enough time for someone to take interest in him."

"There's no way Hide would have let himself get adopted! You forced him into it didn't you, you old cro-"

Akemi lays her hand on his shoulder and immediately stops his tirade, "Ma'am. What my husband means to say is, we had only planned this to be a temporary stay. Hide is fully aware that we would not abandon him like that, so we assumed he would have stayed."

"What an assumption to make, Mrs. Nagachika," the lady cuts in, "While I still don't understand why either of you would think it was wise to _temporarily leave_ a child in an orphanage, I'm quite sure Hideyoshi didn't know your reasons either. He was quite forlorn when he was here the entire time, convinced you'd abandoned him, I'm sure."

Hide's parents both flinched, looking guilty.

"I'm not here to help you fix your mistakes," she continues, "If you were truly looking for a temporary place to house Hideyoshi, why not leave him with a friend?"

Daiki suddenly clutches the edge of her desk, fingers digging through the wood, "You just don't get it, do you?" he whispers darkly, "That's the most obvious fucking thing-"

Once again, Akemi stops her husband, "Stop it Daiki," she mutters sadly, clutching a small golden pendant to her chest, "We'll find him. It's okay."

"Whatever you're planning, I'm not sure I approve of it," the lady replies warily.

This time, it's Akemi's reaction who surprises her.

"Approval?" Akemi giggles, "Ma'am, I assure you. In our line of work, we don't need approval to do our job. Now, I suggest you give us the name and address of the person who took my son. If you don't comply, well...

Let's just say your perfect little _lie_ living as a human is going to come crashing down."


End file.
